Text-Message Roulette
by StormyNight108
Summary: [one-shot] A few days after the incident involving her father's mutation, April attempts to go back at school, only to walk through a sea of rumors and whispers, all directed at her and her father's second disappearance. Everything's wrong. She's walking through unfamiliar territory in desperate attempt to keep her head held high, and continue ignoring her brothers' texts.


_Just take it one step at a time…_

Despite the echo of assurance in her mind, she found herself shrinking further and further into herself as she strode through the school hallway. Eyes followed her every step, and low mumblings broke out in soft voices. Familiar sounds of lockers slamming shut and teachers shouting down the rows should have been comfortable, but as soon as she entered, everything seemed to change. The highschool around her seemed to quiet down as she passed, as if they were afraid to catch her attention.

Hugging her books to her chest, she strolled evenly and quietly. She didn't have the tears to cry, and even if she did, there was no way she'd allow such vulnerability to show. Especially in highschool. She could occasionally hear the whispers, or at least catch a few of the words. She knew what they were talking about. She had prepared herself for this beforehand, so why was it still stinging?

Her father going missing for the first time had started a few murmers and whispers. That was just highschool being gossiping, bored students. The second time he dissapeared, still only within weeks of being found, it began a wave of rumors and made-up ideas to fill the gaps, since April was less than willing to speak about it. Even kids she sometimes socialized with seemed to do their best to avoid her, but did so in a subtle fashion so that she wouldn't notice.

_Well guess what, I do notice. _She held back a sigh, wishing she could do something to keep her attention busy. With the alien invasion weeks ago, a lot of the students had imagined that her dad had been kidnapped by them. Which, had been correct actually. But now, after disappearing again, many began to conspire ideas, like if he were an alien himself, or if he abandoned April, or his brain had been turned to mush when he was abducted and he wandered off and got himself killed or something.

Almost as if on cue, April's phone buzzed. She pulled the T-Phone from her pocket, half-expecting another text from Mikey. He had been trying to get her attention for some while, and she had ended up reading some of the texts. They were mainly apologizes. Every time she read one, however, she felt her heart burn with anger and she put the phone away. But this time, it wasn't one of the guys at all, but Irma.

**Hey, I heard what happened! Are you OK? Come over to the east hall.**

Relieved that finally someone was willing to speak with her, she let out the breath she had been holding and veered around, making her way down the school building. The whispers around her seemed fainter as she picked up the pace, successfully blocking them out. As she turned right, she spotted her dark-haired friend leaned up against the lockers with her phone in hand. She approached casually, catching a few kids look up warily at her presence, and ducked her head softly. "Hey Irma."

Her friend looked up and instantly frowned. "You look horrible, April! I'm so sorry about all that's happening." Irma bit her lip, adjusting her glasses as she got a good look at the sleep-deprived carrot-head in front of her. "Where do you think he…"

"I don't know!" April answered instantly, accidentally snapping a bit with her tone.

Irma stiffened, but didn't move. She nodded to her friend slowly before pulling her backpack in front of her. "I keep hearing those stupid rumors all over the school and I'm getting sick of it." She fished out two twix bars, handing one to April. For half a second, she stared at the chocolate with surprise before taking it. "People need to mind their own business."

"Thank you." April lowered her gaze as she unwrapped her twix, taking a bite and leaning against the lockers next to her friend. The chocolate felt smoothe and soft, already making her feel a bit better knowing she had Irma to lean on during this situation. She tried to figure out why her friend would go to the store to get candy, but then realized she had probably gone to the school shop for them.

"How are you holding up?" Irma asked.

April sighed, taking another bite to block out a memory surfacing. This time it was her brothers, staring sadly at her as she retreated, angrily leaving them behind and telling them to never show themselves to her again. "I've been better." She finally admitted.

Then they were silent, watching the passing of students making their way down the halls. When the bell rang for the school day to start, Irma and April glanced at eachother with frustrated glances. "Want me to come over after school? I'm free today."

"You have free time? That's new." April commented, straightening her backpack and crumbling up her twix wrapper.

"Well…" Irma cast an awkward glance. "I do have a meeting with a few students from AP Physics to discuss something, but it's not that important."

The hallways seemed smaller as they walked to their classes together. April thought about commenting on the fact that Irma never skipped meetings, but found herself unable to make anymore side comments. It would really be supportive if she had a friend over. "I'd hate for you to miss your meeting but…"

Irma smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, April, I don't mind. I can afford to miss one or two meetings every now and then. Plus, you need someone to cheer you up. Tell you what, I have some leftover cheesecake my mom bought two days ago and she won't mind if we eat the rest." She commented slyly, lowering her voice and looking around as if it were top-secret information.

Cheesecake definitely sounded great. April smiled for the first time in days, pausing in front of her class to hug her friend. Irma smiled and wrapped her arms around her friend in return, squeezing in assurance. Feeling her frustration melt, April took a moment to appreciate having Irma as a friend. "Thanks, Irma… you're the best." April whispered.

"And don't you forget it." Irma replied with a chuckle, releasing the hug to let April into her class. "See you later, bud."

Dismissing her with a wave, April entered her class and felt all eyes turn on her. Her pace slackened, and she looked at the floor as she walked, already feeling her self-conscious thoughts take over once more. Talking with Irma should have been assuring, or at least helpful for April to get through the day.

But she found herself sitting low in her seat, with her t-phone pulled out under the desk. She scrolled through the contacts, then opened her messages to read the ones from Mikey.

**april im rlyy sry**

**april?**

**ik i hurt ur feelngs n im sry**

**april**

**i dint mean wat I said the way I said it**

Sighing to herself, she closed her messages. But this time, not out of anger, but of wariness. As the last bell rang and the teacher began to start the lesson, she found her mind drifting back to the final moments with her brothers. Just thinking about it made her heart boil. As a few kids began to snicker a few tables over, glancing over at her, she found herself thinking, _they wouldn't be gossiping about me right now if it weren't for them. I wouldn't be going through this if it weren't for them. Dad would be at work right now if it weren't for them. I could text dad right now, I could tell him to have a good day, or chat about the newest Space Heroes episode, or tell him that Irma was coming over…_

_Irma was coming over._

April sighed, remembering she forgot to remind her friend that she was at her aunt's house right now, not her normal house. She opened a new message, glancing up at the teacher to make sure she was still in the clear. But before she could type any words, another message came in. She opened it casually, blinking tiredly as she recognized the contact set for Mikey.

**im still sorry april i hope u have a good day at skool.**

She stared at the message for several long seconds before closing out of it, using one hand to rub her face and prevent the hot tears in her eyes.


End file.
